Transcripts For KNTV Today 20170519 : vimarsana.com

Charged with murder, telling police he was hoping they would shoot him. Force of nature, former fox news star bill oreilly pays tribute to the Networks Founder and claims public hatred killed his friend. Thisrau roger ailes sudden death will affect the against the network. Pippa middleton famously a bridesmaid going to be a bride. Today, friday, may 19, 2017. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a friday. Lets go back out there for a second. We have a great crowd outside because we have a great concert coming up in our 8 30 half hour. Mary j. Blige is up there. And we are going to hear from her in just a few moments. But, let us start with our top story on this friday morning. President trump set to embark on his First International trip. The nineday, fivestop store will serve as a crucial test abroad for the commander in chief. It comes as his administration deals with controversies here at home. Lets start with peter alaxen alaxeneder who is at the white house this morning. Good morning. Good morning, good friday. President trump take off for that first foreign trip including highstakes meetings with key u. S. Allies in the middle east and europe. The president hoping to leave all the domestic turmoil in his wake, even as a top senator says the investigation into alleged ties between Trump Campaign aides and russian operatives appears to have gone from a counterintelligence one to a criminal investigation. Ahead of his first foreign trip, the president huddling here at home with his lawyers following the appointment of a special to investigate between the Trump Campaign and russia. The entire thing has been a witchhunt and no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign. But i can only speak for myself and the russians. Zero. Reporter challenged if he ever asked james comey to shut down the investigation into fired National Security adviser, Michael Flynn. No, no. Next question. Reporter and this morning, signs of a rift between the Vice President and the white house. After officials here tonight a New York Times report as flat wrong that flynn and his lawyers told trump transition officials weeks before entering the white house that flynn was under investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for turkey. The Vice President in early march. Hearing that story today was the first i heard of it. Reporter pence maintains he was unaware of flynns ties to turkey. This morning a source close to the administration telling nbc news if the white house knew and didnt tell pence it is either malpractice or intentional and either is unacceptable. Flynns lawyers have yet to honor a Senate Intelligence Committee Subpoena for documents related to russias interference in the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump is standing by his former aide. According to yahoo news late last month flynn told loyalists i got a message from the president to stay strong. Trump thursdayaering an evolving explanation for why he fired the fbi director leading an investigation into his campaign. Director comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when i made that decision and i also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know, from the Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. Reporter one week after telling Nbcs Lester Holt i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. Reporter Deputy Attorney general Rob Rosenstein on capitol hill thursday for a closed door briefing with all 100 senators. He knew that comey was going to be removed prior to him writing his memo. Reporter back here at the white house, President Trump says he is very close to choosing the next fbi director and named former senator Joe Lieberman as a finalist. This morning still unclear whether mr. Trump will make that pick announcement before he leaves for that foreign trip today. Several lawmakers have already said that the job should not go to a politician. Back to you, matt and savannah. Peter alexander at the white house. Thank you. Nicole wallace host 4 00 p. M. Eastern hour and she is with us along with National Political correspondent steve kornaki. Happy friday. Six months of news stashed into a week, as matt likes to say. Maybe ten days. Yesterday we were talking, nicole, and the appointment of this special prosecutor could be seen as an opportunity for the white house because it could be a page turner. Look, the special prosecutor is doing his work. We wont get involved in that now. Now were going about the peoples business. But thats not what happened yesterday. Thats not what happened because that is not what the president seems capable of doing. It is what the advisors want him to do and marco rubio on the hill when he was asked about a special counsel. Sort of textbook politics. But this president seems incapable of letting things go. Lets stay on that subject. Appointing a special counsel. Good news bad news for democrats. On one hand ramps up the pressure on the white house and the other hand, if youre a democrat on the house Intelligence Committee or Senate Intelligence committee, you wanted a lot of key witnesses to come in and raise their right hand in public hearings and you wanted to drive headlines with that. Less of an ability to do that. Yii think they were having se of the public hearings and a lot play out behind the scenes right now. At the same time if youre a democrat you have two dates circled on your calendar. In georgia a few weeks later. Both republicans see traditionally if the democrats can pick off one of those, theyll feel things are working very much in their favor politically. Yesterday when the president said at his News Conference there was no collusion and then he added, i can speak for myself. Was that an ominous line if youre someone like a paul m manifort or other names potentially in connection with this investigation. It was a trumpian line. I think donald trump walks into every setting thinking about how things affect him. Loyalty keeps him connected to Michael Flynn. He is not known to be loyal. He let Rudy Giuliani and they ended up, not that they were owed anything, but he didnt feel any loyalty to bring them into the administration. You know the expression, no place like home. Donald trump taking off now on a nineday, fivestop trip. Is he thinking there is no place like the road to get away from Something Else . I think we have seen this with president s in the past when they hit real turmoil domestically. That is a good time to have some sort of overseas, international trip. Certainly with donald trump, it raises the possibility of changing the subject. On the other hand, donald trump we have seen violated a lot of conventions at the white house. Lets see what he does overseas right now. Another headline of the week was that roger ailes the founder of fox guys and who turned it into a force not only in news, but politics. Died at the age of 77 yesterday. If you were a victim of his alleged Sexual Harassment, nothing redeeming about the man. If you worked in republican politics over the last two decades no one with more influence. The advice i once heard him give to a politician for the presidency, you either hunt or youre hunted. He was just a cut throat sort of relic of an era that defined republican politics for two decades. Wow. Former president bush actually tweeted about him, too. Said he wouldnt have won election without roger ailes. Thats a complicated story. Good tahave yo good to have your thoughts. The driver now charged in thursdays horrific scene in time square. Chilling Surveillance Video showing that car slamming into a crowd of pedestrians killing a young tourist injuring 22 others. Thomas roberts is in times square for us. Thomas, good morning to you. Matt, good morning to you. 26yearold Richard Rojas is the man charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated vehicular homicide. He spent the night in bellevue after telling police he heard voices to cause this strike. A warning to our viewers, some of the video you are about to see is graphic. At noon thursday, times square erupted with fear. We have a car running people over. We have multiple people injured. Notify everyone. Reporter in one of the countrys busiest areas. A speeding car seen in this Surveillance Video jumping the curb. Plowing down a sea of pedestrians for three and a half blocks until crashing, finally, into a traffic pole seen in this slowed down whatever it was, it wasnt slowing down. People were yelling, people were stuck on the car as he was driving up. Reporter witnesses captured the scene from the ground. Two victims right now. Reporter and from the rooftops. Oh, my god. 18yearold Alyssa Elsman from michigan, killed. News of her death hitting home. She was really thoughtful, really bright, very pleasant young lady. That every interaction i had with her was positive. Reporter her 13yearold sister alongside here, wounded, along with nearly two dozen others. The driver fleeing into a panicked crowd was quickly taken into custody. Identified as 26yearold Richard Rojas. Sources telling nbc news, he had a dishonorable discharge from the navy and history of dwis. Law enforcement Officials Say rojas has a possible history of psychiatric problems and told police he heard voices. What were you thinking today . Reporter testing negative for alcohol, he admitted to smoking marijuana before the incident and did test positive for drugs. Police say theres no link to International Terrorism in this case but are looking into whether it was deliberate. After recent attacks using vehicles in berlin, nice and london, police are on high alert. Obviously, we know the times were living in. And we know its a dangerous moment in history. Now, thank god, based on what we know now, there is no indication that this was an act of terror. Reporter so, we can also report that police are saying that rojas wanted to be shot by police. So, some would say he was suicidal, wanting to commit this crime and be killed by the officers, once captured or in capture. One thing we can report, matt and savannah, that times square is slowly getting back to normal. This is the time of day, heavy traffic of folks going to work. This investigation is still ongoing. They were able to move that vehicle and other parts of that vehicle overnight here in times square. But people still remain on edge. Back to you. Thomas roberts for us in times square. Thanks. Now the big story breaking overnight. A major legal victory for controversial wikileaks founder julian assange. Swedish prosecutors have announced that they have dropped the Sexual Assault case that kept him holed up in a London Embassy for the last five years. But he is still not a free man. Nbcs chief global correspondent bill neely in london with the latest on this. Bill, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. Its been a sevenyear standoff between sweden and julian assange. Five of the years he spent resisting extradition. Holed up in an embassy in london. But now the case has crumbled. Swedens prosecutor saying hes dropping the case against the wikileaks founder, who was wanted in sweden over rape allegations that he has always denied. Shes said hes not been proven innocent or guilty, but his evasion of the law had been a factor in her decision to drop the case. Assange tweeted a picture of himself after the news looking pretty happy. His swedish lawyer says this is a total victory for him. Weve won. Hes happy and relieved. So was he free now . Well no, not quite. He is in Ecuadors Embassy in london. But British Police say theyre still dutybound to arrest him on a lesser charge of jumping bail. Now behind all of this, of course, is assanges fear of extradition to the u. S. , where he could face trial over the leaking in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents. The u. S. Attorney general, jeff sessions, said previously that arresting mr. Assange would be a priority. And of course many in the u. S. Want him finished harshly. But its not clear the british can extradite him to the u. S. , certainly not on a minor charge, or even that u. S. Officials are, in fact, seeking his arrest because of a possible sealed indictment. Well, assanges swedish lawyer said last month assange would fly to ecuador if he could, to enjoy his political asylum. And ironically, earlier this week, Chelsea Manning the army private who actually leaked the secrets to wikileaks was released from prison. But theres no sign yet this morning that assange will follow her to freedom by leaving his rooms at the embassy here in london. Savannah . Bill neely, a lot of pieces to that puzzle. Thank you very much. Theres a new controversy this morning surrounding the sudden and unexpected death of rock star Chris Cornell. Sheinelle is here with that story. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The 52yearolds death has been ruled a suicide by medical examiner in michigan. Overnight, cornells family pushed back at that finding. This morning, shock and sadness over the death of soundgarden front man, Chris Cornell. The medical examiner in detroit, said that cornell, considered one of the architects of the 1990s subgenre of alternative rock, also known as grunge, killed himself by hanging after performing at a concert thursday. Cornell who was found dead in his Detroit Hotel room issued a statement through an attorney that chris knowingly and intentionally killed himself. The family saying that without toxicology tests completed, they cant be sure what led to his death or any substances were involved. Overnight, tributes poring in. In seattle the space needle went dark for an hour. Elton john shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Chris Cornell and billy idol writing sad to hear of Chris Cornell passing. Another blow. Rip. And from former band member tom morello. I love you brother. Thank you for your friendship and your humor and your intellect and singular and unmatched talent. Your beautiful voice and beautiful self will always be in my heart. God bless you and your family. According to the cornell familys lawyer he had a prescription for an antianxiety drug which had various side effects. She spoke to his wife after the show and he may have taken an extra pill or two. Guys . Thank you very much. Lets turn to the weather now and a lot of folks are facing the threat of some severe storms today. Dylan is in for al, again. She has the forecast. In the same area as we saw yesterday. Oklahoma, for example, where we did see really torrential downpours. Look at these cars trying to drive through the flooded waters. Again, something you shouldnt do. Wind damage was a big issue with trees toppling down on to homes there and take a look at this lightning video. Always so hard to capture. But the video managed to do it there and you can see that certainly filled up the sky. We are going to see more of the same type of weather today. We had several reported tornadoes, although no reports of significant damage. Today, though, were looking at more tornadoes possible. We have a severe thunderstorm watch in and around st. Louis. You can see these lines of storms moving through that area. We also have some storms training to the northwest of texas and that is producing heavy downpours and see some flooding, as well. From indianapolis to central texas, large hail and damaging winds and isolated tornadoes, although our best chance of tornadoes in this area in orange into North Central texas where some of the tornadoes could be pretty intense. Thats a look at the weather across the country and your local forecast is coming up in the next couple seconds. Thats pretty. Pretty sexy. Its allwheel drive. Look at that. It looks aggressive. But not overbearing. Its not too big. Not too small. It looks like it can go offroading. But at the same time, it looks like a car you can take to a nice event. You can dress it up or dress it down. Seems like the perfect car for anybody. I would take it anywhere. I want one. I love it. Shes a bad mama jama. Chevy stepped their game up. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Were in for a hot day, but it does start out nice and mild in the south bay, as you head out the trivalley. 50 in the north bay. All of that sunshine quickly warming up our temperatures. Giving us a several degrees boost over yesterday. Up to 89 in the south bay, 88 in the peninsula, and the trivalley up to 91 degrees. East, a high of 81, while 73 food in San Francisco. And thats. And tas your latest forecast. Weve got news from overseas now. The u. S. Military carried out an air strike on syria on friday in what is believed to be the blirs confrontati confrontation. The air strike was launched was they pose a direct threat to u. S. And allied forces. No word yet on casualties. Anthony weiner will appear in federal court today to face charges in a sexting investigation. The fbi is looking into whether he exchanged explicit messages with a 15yearold girl. He will plead guilty. Prosecutors are recommending two years in jail. Weiners attorneys asking for two years probation. How robert ailes death impacts the Sexual Assault allegations. And floridas very large python problem. The massive snakes taking over the everglades and the men being charged with taking them down. Next